NJPW Kizuna Road (Day 2)

Kizuna Road 

29^th June 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

Kizuna (絆) is a kanji word that roughly translates as 'bonds', 'friendship' or 'connections'. Much like the Portguese word 'saudade', the Dutch 'gezellig' and the German term 'heimat', there are certain words that have specific meanings that also have regional connotations that go beyond simple translation; they have deeper meanings that attempt to hint at the deeper condition of the people in the mother language. Kizuna can exist between people separated by oceans and by people who do not know each other, it is the spirit of the people as much as simple friendship or nationhood. It's an oddly profound choice for a wrestling promotion to go with, but it beats the shit out of Payback. 

"I bring you peace" ~ C.Montgomery Burns

Traditionally Kizuna Road has been the tour that bridges the gap between Dominion and the beginning of the annual G1 Climax tournament, though previous iterations have not been deemed filler events whatsoever. The 2013 edition saw all of the company titles defended, with Kazuchika Okada making the third defence in his second reign carrying the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Prince Devitt in a high-quality encounter (apart from all of the Bullet Club interference). In addition, La Sombra took on Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata went to double KO on a card that I realise I should definitely re-watch.

2012, the company's 40^th anniversary year, saw an event sandwiched between the end of the Kizuna Road tour (in which Hiroshi Tanahashi defended his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the evergreen Masato Tanaka) and the commencement of the G1 named Last Rebellion in which Prince Devitt defended the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship against CMLL's Volador Jr.

So whilst Kizuna is being used quite literally by the company to signify a connection from one major event to the other, there's a second utilisation in play: bond. As in – we have bonded a lot of workers together in multi-man tag team contests because we have got quite literally 110 consecutive singles matches coming up. There will be no defences of any major heavyweight or tag team titles throughout the tour. This continues NJPW's direction of spreading out title defences in 2014, which has divided fans between those who feel it's a sensible strategy for long-term preservation, and those who want to see titles defended regularly and fulsomely.

There will, however, be some hardware on display. On July 4^th, dual promotion daredevil Kota Ibushi will headline in defence of his Jr. Heavyweight Championship against the rising KUSHIDA. However, in tonight's main event we shall see NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, the greatest wrestler of the previous 12 months, take on former stablemate, recent vanquisher (in a tag match) and perennial dirtbag Yujiro Takahashi. Given the recent and rapid acquisition of championships by Takahashi's new outfit Bullet Club, the outcome seems telegraphed. That said, The Young Bucks lost their Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles, so not all is written in stone.

Kizuna Road will also mark the return to NJPW of CMLL's Fuego, who trained for a little while in the briefly-established Los Angeles version of the New Japan Dojo. 

Fuego and Mascara Dorada

Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, Tiger Mask IV and Mascara Dorada vs. BUSHI, Fuego and Yohei Komatsu

The crowd go crazy every time Yohei Komatsu gets in an offensive manoeuvre. Komatsu, you see, is one of the two NJPW roster members currently in their 'Young Lion' phase. This approximately means a year or two occasionally working matches wearing generic black trunks, taking defeats, and then returning to the front of house to act as ring attendant. This particular Young Lion is making a lot of people excited, working with a lot of flair, passion and an ever-growing array of excellent suplexes delivered with precision timing and smoothness. He seems ready to progress.

As ever he takes the defeat to Mascara Dorada in a short junior bout complete with requisite suicide dives and hi-jinks. We are also introduced to Fuego, whose gimmick seems to involve wearing a cowboy hat and jiggling for an uncomfortably long time. Most of his in-ring work comes with compatriot Dorada, but there's not enough here to make a judgement either way. At times there are too many heel-face-orientation-uncertain-people-in-masks to really follow this contests but it certainly did the trick. **

Liger, Mask and Dorada d. BUSHI, Fuego and Komatsu

Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Captain New Japan vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Ryusuke Taguchi

Captain New Japan is in effect the Brooklyn Brawler except that he's babyface and he dresses as the company mascot. It is his job to add comedy and take pinfalls and have people on the internet who can't appreciate that wrestling has to occasionally appeal to more people than their precise demographic moan about him. In this match he threatens more than once to steal the win over Kojima. In the end it is Kojima who has the last laugh in this battle of the babyfaces, but his journey to victory lane is not without peril.

Fujiwara Armbar: officially endorsing Captain New Japan

Tenzan also contributed nicely to this match, perhaps sensing the groundswell of opinion against him ahead of the upcoming G1 Climax by those who favour the hard-working Tomoaki Honma. Only last year could Tenzan, the four-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and three-time G1 winner, not make it through the entire event owing to recurring injuries. 

Ryusuke Taguchi appeared as if to compound his 'lost man' state. Seemingly gimmickless since Prince Devitt turned on him in 2013, a junior attempting to hang with four of the leading heavyweights of the last two decades, he fails to complete his Eddie Guerrero routine as Nagata shuts down his Three Amigos attempt by countering with a suplex of his own. A fun house show match. **1/2

Tenzan, Kojima and Taguchi d. Nagata, Nakanishi and Captain New Japan

Toru Yano and YOSHI-HASHI (CHAOS) vs. Minoru Suzuki and Takashi Iizuka (Suzuki-gun)

So Yano enlists one of the highest paid members of the roster at Dominion in Kazushi Sakuraba and still loses and yet he hopes to win alongside YOSHI-HASHI? Thaaaaaaaaaat's wrestling! Except this time it worked, as Iizuka was disqualified for using the Iron Fingers. Best move in the industry. 

looks to camera

The feud between Yano and Suzuki rumbles on with Suzuki-gun's new acquisition Iizuka showing that he's not just a human kick/chop/choke machine by unveiling both an atomic drop and a (sloppy) snapmare. Iizuka also manages to display some brains in his cheating, choking out YOSHI-HASHI with a piece of string having it confiscated, then secretly pulling out another concealed piece of string to strangle anew. It's incredibly competent boardwalk sideshow wrestling.

Missed a crucial penalty/pelanty in 1990

In a relative rarity for the YTR-Suzuki feud, much of the match remained in the ring and resembled something like a wrestling match. Yano tried and failed to perform his RVD 'homage' taunt. Suzuki largely kicked YOSHI-HASHI around. Like Komatsu and Captain New Japan in matches previous, the Korakuen crowd got behind the Chris Waddle-haircutted/staff-wielding underdog, causing him to show fire in the face of The Man With The Worst Personality In The World. CHAOS win, but what price has been paid for so few yards gained? **1/4

CHAOS d. Suzuki-gun

Tomoaki Honma and To(u)gi Makabe (Great Bash Heel) vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto (Meiyu Tag)

A rare outing for the remaining members of GBH against a tag team finding their feet anew since their failed shot at glory at Invasion Attack and their subsequent beating out of the #1 contendership slot at Back to the Yokohama Arena by Ace to King (Makabe and Hiroshi Tanahashi). Goto looked out-of-sorts at Dominion 6.21. At Kizuna Road, sensing the kizuna between he and Shibata, he is firing on all cylinders, taking the fight hard to Makabe (who he will meet on the opening night of the G1 Climax in a wide open Block B). 

Perhaps Korakuen is an underdog hall because Honma gets wild raptures for everything he does, especially the most over finisher in all of Japan right now: the Kokeshi. Effectively a safe diving headbutt given an added cocked smile and a tip of the head before delivery, it never fails to get a fist pump even from me.

KOKESHI!!!!!!!

Shibata, aside from a typically stinging exchange with Honma, remains largely absent. Perhaps sensing the magnitude of a G1 Climax where he not only has to beat some of the most popular and talented wrestlers of all time but has to do it knowing that most of these guys personally resent and hate him, it's a wise preservation job. Goto takes the win with a well-executed Shouten-Kai on Honma, though Honma goes down with a fight.

There's a bit of afters between Goto and Makabe which you might call a cynical promotional trick but the beef honestly made me i. think that their match was going to be worth a watch and ii. glad that Goto actually has something other than mopping up after Shibata. Good house show match. ***1/4

SIDE NOTE: why is Shibata taken seriously as a heavyweight? He's pretty much the same build and size as Kota Ibushi.

Meiyu Tag d. Great Bash Heel

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA vs. Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito and El Desperado

I'm really glad for the Time Splitters. In both senses: I am glad for their existence and I am also glad that they're progressing and making waves as singles and tag competitors. Internet rumour suggested that the injury Shelley suffered at BOSJ put paid to an angle whereupon our heroes turn on each other, but I declare this to be fantasy.

When I first saw Alex Shelley in TNA, two words came to mind: Shawn Michaels. I don't think he's consciously copying HBK and since that moment their paths have diverged. What I meant was that I saw that nexus of unfailing confidence, smoothness and a good general look as Michaels did in his Rockers days and thought that it had utility and a chance to grow beyond Motor City Machine Guns. However, as much as I like Michaels, being 2014's Alex Shelley is just fine by me. As well as being one of the babyface foreign workers and a hell of a worker, he likes Hot Snakes and as far as I'm concerned that is just dandy.

accurate in every way

(The former Yujiro) KUSHIDA's incorporation of submission manoeuvres puts him right alongside somebody like Kyle O'Reilly of Ring of Honor's reDRagon as 'smaller guys that I want to see'. Presently in at #2 or #3 in my MOTYC after the BOSJ final against Ricochet, I wonder if KUSHIDA would be well served in the US with his obvious talent, relatable character and charisma and unbeaten MMA record. As much as I truly like New Japan Pro Wrestling, I think it mistreats its good junior heavyweights and leaves them smothered by a glass ceiling.   

Back to the task at hand. This is a match so crowded with babyfaces I began to forget which team everybody belonged to after a little while. This match also teased a lot of upcoming action: Shelley will take on Desperado and Ibushi will defend his Jr. Heavyweight strap against KUSHIDA at next week's Kizuna Road, but also Ibushi will face Tanahashi on the first night of the G1 Climax. Naito, bless him, was just there. You cannot stop him.

To Ibushi's credit, he worked a little heelish to give the increasingly loved Time Splitters some breathing room and it made the match all the better. Tanahashi largely vacationed during this one, leaving a multitude of excellent spots to Time Splitters (absolutely love that fake-out where it looks like KUSHIDA is going to mount the turnbuckle to perform a double team move with Shelley but instead dives onto an opponent who has secreted himself onto the outside) and El Desperado. Desperado gets the unlikely pinfall win on Shelley after a low blow and possibly the Guitarra del Angel but to be honest I don't know many of Desperado's moves. **3/4  

Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito and El Desperado d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA

Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero (CHAOS) vs. Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Tama Tonga (Bullet Club)

A fast-paced and exciting encounter between the greatest stable in contemporary or indeed any professional wrestling ever and their exact opposite, a forced and charmless exercise in salesmanship and promotion. 

fucking BOOOOOOOOO: (l-r: Buck 1, Buck 2, Tonga, Fale, Styles, Gallows, Anderson, Takahashi)

The match told the story of CHAOS attempting to fire back after a recent series of losses in personnel and championships, pushing Okada to the forefront to deploy all of the wiliness and toughs that brought him two world championships before the age of 26. Now a bona fide babyface unit after years in the heel region of the spectrum, it's classic booking to put them in peril against the wicked gaijin faction and their attendant turncoat. 

It's a feud that has the potential to run and run and develop (at a guess: the appearance of Global Force Wrestling honcho Jeff Jarrett will include Bullet Club somehow) and see new alignments and arrangements and therefore create new wars and feuds and all of this is great. It's just the journey is a little uncertain at present and potentially includes more smug promos by Karl Anderson than I'd ideally like. Bullet Club won, though Rocky Romero performed a surprising star turn, managing to kick out of an Anderson Gun Stun before succumbing to the Gallows/Gun Magic Killer. Fine match. ***1/2

Bullet Club d. CHAOS

NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) (c) vs. Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club)

Created as the championship belt for a promotion that never really got going, the NEVER Openweight Championship has managed to get over as a title in much the same manner that TNA's X Division Championship managed to in the mid-00s: by showcasing a certain style of wrestling and generally keeping the title picture as a mixture of people who can work in this approximate style.

There have only been 11 matches contested for this title since its creation in 2012 with an emerging theme of high-octane and nail-biting matches that compress the drama of a main event match, the unrelenting intensity of the old Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling stiffness and the drama of something incredibly fresh and vital. No screwy booking, no shenanigans, just two guys attempting to blast each other out of the water. After a near year-long carry by the ageless Masato Tanaka, Tetsuya Naito picked up the title, subsequently dropping it on his first defence to the rising Tomohiro Ishii at New Beginning 2014 in Osaka in the match of the year so far.

Ishii took charge of the championship in the middle of 12 months of stellar ascent. Dropping Hiroshi Tanahashi on his head with the Ishii Driller at the 2013 G1 Climax in July 2013, a star was born. In a phenomenal match between the unchallenged ace of the company and a performer in the autumn of a career hardly pock-marked with accolades, Ishii was made to look every inch the equal of his illustrious opponent.

Two days later in Osaka, Ishii would (possibly) trump this performance with a 5-star rated match vs. Katsuyori Shibata: 12 minutes of violent and heartstopping action that appeared to erupt out of nothing. In one of the most memorable closes, Ishii's face balloons and froths from the mouth from a Shibata sleeper before breaking free and unleashing a brutal enziguri, lariat and a pair of hard brainbusters to put his dominant opponent down. Though these two victories represented the only two Ishii would record in the event, many critics viewed the arrival of Ishii as the real story of the tournament.

A selling masterclass (credit: Pro Wres Blog)

Ishii's rise was not just a tale of a man gaining victories. A favourite in the Korakuen for his toughness and underdog status despite being aligned with a heel unit, something about Ishii's character rang true. Only 5'7" but 225lbs, a solid bowling ball of a man, often nonspeaking and unsmiling. Victories are uncelebrated. Nicknamed the Stone Pitbull, Ishii has managed to successfully convey the most basic fantasy trope - an unrepentant badass who never backs down - with a real knack for gaining sympathy. 

He is the perfect flagship wrestler for the NEVER division, if such a thing can be said to exist, embodying toughness both in-ring and in terms of continuing to improve within the industry even deep into his 30s. Though appearing a remorseless stiffer, Ishii is said to be safe to work with in the ring and full of ideas to improve a match. Though mystifyingly omitted from the Wrestle Kingdom 8 card, all of his seven singles matches in 2014 have been great by my measurements.

• vs. Yuji Okabayashi (Legend The Pro Wrestling) - ****
• vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW New Beginning) - ****3/4
• vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW New Japan Cup) - ****1/4
• vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW Invasion Attack) - ****1/2
• vs. KUSHIDA (NJPW Wrestling World in Taiwan) - ***3/4
• vs. Tomoaki Honma (NJPW Wrestling Dontaku) - ****1/2
• vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW Back to the Yokohama Arena) - ****1/2

Rematches with Shibata and Tanahashi occurred in the back end of 2013, neither of which recovered the magic of the initial encounter, though both were approximately 4 star outings by many metrics. Even if Ishii's push peters out soon, then he has managed to set a standard for any wrestler in any position of the card. It's very fair to say that I really really like Ishii though, so maybe take all of the above with a pinch of salt.

Anyway, onto the match.

STONE PITBULL vs. Weird Sex Man

Though a fine match in its own right, the inclusion of Takahashi smashes my brittle foundation of what a NEVER match should constitute. Instead of going toe-to-toe, Takahashi opts for cheating and strategising and gamesmanship. Ishii brings fire, Takahashi attempts to lure Ishii out of the ring, loosens the turnbuckle pads, drags the referee in to take bumps in his place, hits low blows and bites. 

The pace stays low for the early periods of Takahashi dominance, hindering any flow built by Ishii. Most of Takahashi's offence either looks weak or unsafe: his kicks and jabs are soft, but both a Back Suplex into the turnbuckle and a Bridging Exploder Pin he hits look unstable. The crowd erupts when Ishii buries Takahashi with a lariat, but has cold water thrown on them by the newest Bullet Club member's constant trash-talking, cocksure posing and sexually-charged antics.

Bullet Club also make an appearance, attempting to cheat Ishii out of the win and the championship but the champ manages to slug Gallows, Anderson and Tama Tonga before Takahashi regains the momentum. All four stomp away at a prone Ishii before the ring is cleared by Ishii's CHAOS brothers (for the first time that I can recall. CHAOS don't usually behave in such traditional ways) and we prepare for a clean-ish finish. 

The growing momentum toward the close of the match brings the match toward the standards Ishii has gained repute for, though the lack of flow in the early stages and the absence of the real fury of combat from a challenger (who carries a look as if the outcome was never in any doubt) dug into the mark a little. Takahashi catches Ishii with the Tokyo Pimps, the move that buried Okada, but Ishii powers out of the fall attempt. The best version of Miami Shine that Takahashi has ever attempted succeeds where the old finisher failed and we have a new champion. Bah! ***3/4

Yujiro Takahashi d. Tomohiro Ishii to become the new NEVER Openweight Championship.

Your new (sigh) champion: Yujiro Takahashi

Bullet Club come out, Anderson gets the mic and Bullet Club close a fourth consecutive iPPV by jerking off. I switch off.

Another Kizuna Road show should be next, headlined by Ibushi vs. KUSHIDA.